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Enough Lurking - time to commit

12-21-2007, 02:48 PM

After bathing in the collective experience and knowledge of this forum for the last 4 months, I am ready to commit to building an oven. I am located in Olympia, WA and will have to deal with liquid sunshine. I am working on my plans now so I can be ready to start in the spring. My current plans include a 36 inch Pompei oven in a corner installation with a brick smoker and a brick BBQ. My challenges include building this all in a 9.5 ft x 25 ft area next to the house. While I can find no building codes that apply I think I will need to extend the chimney to a height of about 13 ft above grade. I am also planning to incorporate an "ash/coal drop slot" in the entrance of the oven.
My wife has been making homemade pizza once a week for the last 21 years and I told her I was going to build the oven for her. However, I think we both know the oven will really be my toy.
I have to say that, after extensive research, this is the most informative, kindest, best laid out and complete forum for oven builders. I appreciate all of the effort that goes into it and I am looking forward to soliciting your opinions and help during my build. Hopefully I will be able to repay in kind. I have already infected 2 of my co-worker with WFO fever and hope to infect more as time goes on.

Welcome,
You are right this has been a great site with members generously offering their wisdom in assisting everyone in their planning and building of a WFO. It quickly becomes an obsession.
I initially wanted a smoker and migrated to this oven( to use as a smoker as well), so I'm interested in your thoughts there.

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I sort of started with the brick barbeque concept and got sucked into the whole wood fired kitchen. Once I found the forum I knew I had to build a pizza oven.
I have a bbq fanatic for a friend who bbqs at least 330 days a year. I started taking lessons with him because, contrary to popular opinion, bbq skills are not aquired through genetic transfer. He really hooked me on the great flavors you can only get through smoking.
Here is my basic idea. I originally was going to try to combine the bbq and smoker or the pizza oven and smoker. Having read through all the temperatures and technical data, combining these is more trouble than it is worth. Keeping the seperate seems to be the way to go.
Smokers seem to be the easiest of the three cooking item to make. There are plans on the web to build a smoker using an trashcan and a electric hot plate.
I am going to build a verical smoker with common brick beside the oven. Basically a tower with a interior space about 4 ft tall, and 15 inches square. It will have removable racks at 8 inch intervals. At the bottom I plan to use a tray for wood chips heated by a small propane stove. Since I do not want to mess with wiring or piping I am planning to incorporate a 5 gal propane bottle into the base, connected with a hose easily found at any RV place.
The BBQ is a little more complicated. I am planing to use brick and movable shelves for the coals. However, I want to construct some kind of hood to draw the smoke up and away from the house if I can figure out how to do it. The only plans I have seen come from a 1960s Sunset book and they are pretty basic. If anyone has ideas on this I could use some other input
Being a 1 income family with a wife, kids and dogs to support I am trying to economize where every possible. I am starting to collect materials now and hope my wife will not be too upset with the piles acculating in the backyard. I already have about 600 red bricks ( wall bricks with holes) for some of the decorative work and wall construction. Currently I am collecting all of the cinderblocks that get discarded in my area.

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Hey George
Where are you getting your firebrick and mortar. I spoke with a guy a Mutual Materials in Tumwater and he was less than helpful. Instead of having specific information about the in-stock firebricks all he could say was "uh.... lots of people use these bricks for ovens He had no info about the ratings of the bricks or mortar. Have you used the firebricks from there ?

Thanks

Bruce

Sharpei Diem.....Seize the wrinkle dog

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I have a total buy-in from the family. They took all of the fire brick information and bought me 2 dozen fire bricks for christmas as a starter set. I am sure that my entire family will be hounding me get started as soon as the weather breaks. This is a good problem to have

Sharpei Diem.....Seize the wrinkle dog

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Howdy Brokencookie,
Sounds like a most exellent backyard project. I expecially like the brick tower smoker. I wish I would have thought of that. Sounds like an industrial sized Lil' Chief, which is what I use to smoke salmon. And I tried to think of everything. I never even considered replacing my Lil' chief! Brilliant.
I am looking forward to tracking your progress. I can tell that this is going to be a fun and interesting tread.

dusty

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Bruce,
When I called, I specifically asked for low-duty fire bricks. The girl who answers the phone seems to cover all the calls for SW WA and OR, as far as I can figure. She said, "yes, we've got them". Non of the other places I went could even guess what a low duty firebrick was. You kind of have to just go with it. What else are you going to do? Everyone else just gave me a blank stare and a stammer when I asked for a specific type of firebrick.

When I went to Mutual Materials (MM) in Portland, I asked for low duty, but I think the clerk just wrote firebrick on the ticket. Anyway, the oven seems to heat like everyone else's. I have a month or so before I get this thing finished. Check back with me and I'll let you know if all is good with the bricks. MM is a very reputable company. I think they have everything you need. So far, I trust 'em.
G.

GJBingham
-----------------------------------
Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.

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I have a total buy-in from the family. They took all of the fire brick information and bought me 2 dozen fire bricks for christmas as a starter set. I am sure that my entire family will be hounding me get started as soon as the weather breaks. This is a good problem to have

That is so cool! What a nice present. ...and now you have a ready-made New Year's resolution: "I will build my oven as fast as I can"

"Building a Brick oven is the most fun anyone can have by themselves." (Terry Pratchett... slightly amended)

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George, if Brokencookie is only an hour away, why not hook up to show your expertise? I know, on the spot call. You decide. I think of what Dusty and Les did for me by showing their ovens, and it helped more than I could ever imagine. I know that when mine is done, come this summer I would like to host a pizza party and get those two over for some fun.

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I think all those firebricks need a 10 inch wet saw for company..... Its very sad to think of them sitting there uncut.

Ha! Christo, I like the way you think. I see my saw just sitting there and get this gut feeling like it's lonely and wants to get back to work. (i'm going to make it a very happy saw today!)

Bruce, you're always welcome to stop by my house and see the messiest worksite of all the current builders. Otherwise, feel free to give me a shout if you need questionable advice. I'm full of that! I do drive through Oly about once a month so I can provide housecalls (for an additional fee, of course).

George

GJBingham
-----------------------------------
Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.

-

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Thanks for the kind offer George. As far as having the "messiest" work place...you aint seen nothing yet. With 2 kids and 2 dogs the work sites at my house become instant playgrounds. I relandscaped and terraced my front yard this summer. I had ( in the driveway) 10 yds of sand, 5 yds gravel, 10 yds soil, and 14 tons of rock. The kids thought it was a terrific playground !
I am still 3- 4 months away from ground breaking( The wife wants me to finish the bathroom remodel first). I'll give you a holler when I get closer and drop by to see your oven. I looked over your building thread and hope that I duplicate your success. Your oven looks great.
Did I read correctly that you set it on a 6 inch slab ? I will also have to deal with the chimmey issues because my oven will be within 7 ft of the house. I am debating the merits of terra cota flue and the Duratech.
With any luck I am going to post plans and concept art this week for comments and suggestions.

Sharpei Diem.....Seize the wrinkle dog

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Hi 'BroCoo'
I don't mean to butt in on your plans, but if you can afford a little bit more on the pizza oven project, ditch the 36" idea and go for a 46" Pompeii. It seems to me, with a wife and kids, you're gonna' need the extra cooking surface. Don't forget, if you're making pizzas you need some space for a wood fire as you make a pizza. Trust Me, you will need the room! Welcome aboard.
Rick